Introduction to RoboWar

= Introduction to RoboWar = RoboWar is an engaging robot battle simulation game where players can program their own robots to fight in the grand arena. Robots can be programmed to run routines in order to defeat their enemies.

What is RoboWar?
More specifically, RoboWar is a game that can be played and downloaded for free.

The game consists of an arena where you can load robots to fight each other. Each robot can be outfitted with a variety of weapons and other hardware, custom icons and sounds, and most importantly, battle routines in order to win the match.

You can easily load robots from previous tournaments which are often held, or simply create your own robot. It takes a little skill to design a robot, but if you follow examples from previous robots you'll find it's not as daunting as it may first seem.

Robots are programmed in what's called Reverse Polish Notation. Operations (including addition, subtraction, less than, if, jump, store, and others) are performed after putting items on the stack. For example, if you wanted to add 3 and 5 together, instead of writing 3 + 5 as you normally would, you would write 3 5 +.

Where can I find RoboWar?
There are currently a few different versions in existence.


 * RoboWar 4.5.2 for Mac OS Classic is the latest official build for the Macintosh. This only works in Classic Mac OS, however, and is not Mac OS X compatible.
 * RoboWar 5, a port by Kevin Hertzberg for Windows, is mostly to fully compatible with the original Macintosh version. Older robots can be converted to the new version. (RoboWar 5 can be run on Intel Macintosh computers using Darwine.)
 * RoboWar II, another port for Windows by Mark Wagner is somewhat to mostly compatible with the original version. Old robots cannot be imported into the new version. This version deviates slightly from the original program.
 * A Java version of RoboWar was developed and is partially functional, by Lucas Dixon. (Link not currently available.)
 * A Mac OS X port may be in the works by Sam Rushing but no other information is available, nor if or when it will be released.

How do I get started?
If you are new to RoboWar, the RoboWiki has many articles which may help. A good place to start is Getting Started. An Instruction Reference is available on the site, as well as strategy articles and sample robots.